Halley: Halley mortality table

In HervePerdry/M1SP: Examples for the Master 1 de Santé Publique

Halley mortality table

Description

This historical table was established by Halley in 1693, using data transmitted by Caspar Neumann. It gives the number of individuals reaching a given age, on a total of 1328 births, in the city of Breslau (now Wrocław, in Poland). The variables are age, going from 1 to 84, and number, the number of individuals. This table is in fact a population pyramid. Assuming population stationarity, mortality rates can be deduced. For ages above 107, Halley states only that there are a total of 107 individuals. A plausible completion of the table is given in the examples section.

Usage

data(Halley)

Format

Data frame

References

Nicolas Bacaër, Histoires de mathématiques et de population, Cassini, 2008. La table de mortalité d'E. Halley, présentée par J. Dupaquier, Annales de démographie historique, 1976.

Examples

# survival function
S <- c(1, Halley$number/1238)
plot(0:84, S, type = "l", xlab = "t", ylab = "S(t)")
# life expectancy
sum(S)
# completing the table above age 84
P <- c(Halley$number,18,16,14,13,11,9,8,6,5,3,2,1,1)
S <- c(1, P/1238)
sum(S)

HervePerdry/M1SP documentation built on Dec. 16, 2024, 8:19 p.m.